"dead cat" meaning in All languages combined

{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_text": "Named for its resemblance to an actual dead cat.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead cats",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dead cat (plural dead cats)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Cinematography",
          "orig": "en:Cinematography",
          "parents": [
            "Film",
            "Entertainment",
            "Mass media",
            "Culture",
            "Media",
            "Society",
            "Communication",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sound engineering",
          "orig": "en:Sound engineering",
          "parents": [
            "Engineering",
            "Sound",
            "Applied sciences",
            "Technology",
            "Energy",
            "Sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Nature",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 August 16, Neil Oseman, Inside the Director's Folder",
          "text": "A camera operator needs batteries, lenses, cards, filters. A wardrobe supervisor has racks of costumes. A sound recorder carries a dead cat on a stick. But a director only needs his folder.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2019, July 2. \"Film 101: What Is a Boom Operator? Understanding the Job of a Boom Operator\", Masterclass.com.\n\"The mic blimp is a wind-resistant cover that goes over the boom mic to reduce environmental background noise. It's commonly referred to as a \"dead cat\", because it's covered in fuzzy gray hair.\""
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A furry coverlet placed over a microphone to muffle the sound of wind."
      ],
      "id": "en-dead_cat-en-noun-PHZP9oKT",
      "links": [
        [
          "cinematography",
          "cinematography"
        ],
        [
          "sound engineering",
          "sound engineering"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "sound engineering",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(cinematography, sound engineering) A furry coverlet placed over a microphone to muffle the sound of wind."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "broadcasting",
        "cinematography",
        "film",
        "media",
        "television"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "dead cat"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_text": "Introduced by former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in 2013 (at which point he was mayor of London) in a column for The Daily Telegraph.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead cats",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dead cat (plural dead cats)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English neologisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Politics",
          "orig": "en:Politics",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "34 52 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 53 16",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English quotations with omitted translation",
          "parents": [
            "Quotations with omitted translation",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 November 19, Charlotte Lydia Riley, “Dear journalists: please stop calling everything a “dead cat””, in Prospect Magazine, archived from the original on 2023-01-06",
          "text": "The problem is that once the idea of the dead cat had been discovered, suddenly there were deceased felines everywhere. Everything was a dead cat—every policy, every interview, every gaffe. Everything existed only to detract attention from something else.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 December 8, George Parker, Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe, Jim Pickard, Sebastian Payne, “Boris Johnson bets on a 'dead cat' strategy to get him out of trouble”, in Financial Times, archived from the original on 2021-12-08",
          "text": "Boris Johnson looked strained as he entered the House of Commons at midday on Wednesday, hoping that a \"dead cat\" and an apology over Downing Street parties would dig him out of his latest political hole.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 December 12, Stewart Lee, “More sacrifices for Boris, the fool king of pantomime Britain”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2022-12-03",
          "text": "But by Wednesday night, a massive dead cat was required to distract from a day of denied parties and prioritised pets, so Johnson banged plan B on the kitchen table, alienating backbench Covid sceptics.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A shocking or sensational announcement made in order to distract one's political base from existing problems and previous failures."
      ],
      "id": "en-dead_cat-en-noun-wDYpGArM",
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ],
        [
          "shocking",
          "shocking"
        ],
        [
          "sensational",
          "sensational"
        ],
        [
          "distract",
          "distract"
        ],
        [
          "political",
          "political"
        ],
        [
          "base",
          "base"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(politics, neologism) A shocking or sensational announcement made in order to distract one's political base from existing problems and previous failures."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "neologism"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Boris Johnson",
    "Lynton Crosby",
    "The Daily Telegraph"
  ],
  "word": "dead cat"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_text": "Introduced by former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in 2013 (at which point he was mayor of London) in a column for The Daily Telegraph.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead cats",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dead catting",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dead catted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dead catted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "++"
      },
      "expansion": "dead cat (third-person singular simple present dead cats, present participle dead catting, simple past and past participle dead catted)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 170",
          "text": "Long picked scars and carefully nurtured injustices can serve a purpose, and we can see it in Obrador's dead catting, the narrative of Brexit, the saga of the Falkland Islands, the Greek financial crisis, and independence movements in democratic nations across Europe.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, Grant Rodwell, Education Policy and the Political Right",
          "text": "A part of the Right's offensive, however, was to not only be bloody, bold, resolute and brief in their media messaging, but also be smart in their use of dead-catting, a media offensive technique to which this book to which this book has previously referred.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To announce (something) as a dead cat; to raise an issue as a political distraction."
      ],
      "id": "en-dead_cat-en-verb-45xFmtI7",
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive) To announce (something) as a dead cat; to raise an issue as a political distraction."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "dead cat bounce"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Boris Johnson",
    "Lynton Crosby",
    "The Daily Telegraph"
  ],
  "word": "dead cat"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English quotations with omitted translation",
    "English terms with quotations",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_text": "Named for its resemblance to an actual dead cat.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead cats",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dead cat (plural dead cats)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Cinematography",
        "en:Sound engineering"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 August 16, Neil Oseman, Inside the Director's Folder",
          "text": "A camera operator needs batteries, lenses, cards, filters. A wardrobe supervisor has racks of costumes. A sound recorder carries a dead cat on a stick. But a director only needs his folder.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2019, July 2. \"Film 101: What Is a Boom Operator? Understanding the Job of a Boom Operator\", Masterclass.com.\n\"The mic blimp is a wind-resistant cover that goes over the boom mic to reduce environmental background noise. It's commonly referred to as a \"dead cat\", because it's covered in fuzzy gray hair.\""
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A furry coverlet placed over a microphone to muffle the sound of wind."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cinematography",
          "cinematography"
        ],
        [
          "sound engineering",
          "sound engineering"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "sound engineering",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(cinematography, sound engineering) A furry coverlet placed over a microphone to muffle the sound of wind."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "broadcasting",
        "cinematography",
        "film",
        "media",
        "television"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "dead cat"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English quotations with omitted translation",
    "English terms with quotations",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_text": "Introduced by former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in 2013 (at which point he was mayor of London) in a column for The Daily Telegraph.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead cats",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dead cat (plural dead cats)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English neologisms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Politics"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 November 19, Charlotte Lydia Riley, “Dear journalists: please stop calling everything a “dead cat””, in Prospect Magazine, archived from the original on 2023-01-06",
          "text": "The problem is that once the idea of the dead cat had been discovered, suddenly there were deceased felines everywhere. Everything was a dead cat—every policy, every interview, every gaffe. Everything existed only to detract attention from something else.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 December 8, George Parker, Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe, Jim Pickard, Sebastian Payne, “Boris Johnson bets on a 'dead cat' strategy to get him out of trouble”, in Financial Times, archived from the original on 2021-12-08",
          "text": "Boris Johnson looked strained as he entered the House of Commons at midday on Wednesday, hoping that a \"dead cat\" and an apology over Downing Street parties would dig him out of his latest political hole.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 December 12, Stewart Lee, “More sacrifices for Boris, the fool king of pantomime Britain”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2022-12-03",
          "text": "But by Wednesday night, a massive dead cat was required to distract from a day of denied parties and prioritised pets, so Johnson banged plan B on the kitchen table, alienating backbench Covid sceptics.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A shocking or sensational announcement made in order to distract one's political base from existing problems and previous failures."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ],
        [
          "shocking",
          "shocking"
        ],
        [
          "sensational",
          "sensational"
        ],
        [
          "distract",
          "distract"
        ],
        [
          "political",
          "political"
        ],
        [
          "base",
          "base"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(politics, neologism) A shocking or sensational announcement made in order to distract one's political base from existing problems and previous failures."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "neologism"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Boris Johnson",
    "Lynton Crosby",
    "The Daily Telegraph"
  ],
  "word": "dead cat"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English quotations with omitted translation",
    "English terms with quotations",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_text": "Introduced by former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in 2013 (at which point he was mayor of London) in a column for The Daily Telegraph.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead cats",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dead catting",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dead catted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dead catted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "++"
      },
      "expansion": "dead cat (third-person singular simple present dead cats, present participle dead catting, simple past and past participle dead catted)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "dead cat bounce"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 170",
          "text": "Long picked scars and carefully nurtured injustices can serve a purpose, and we can see it in Obrador's dead catting, the narrative of Brexit, the saga of the Falkland Islands, the Greek financial crisis, and independence movements in democratic nations across Europe.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, Grant Rodwell, Education Policy and the Political Right",
          "text": "A part of the Right's offensive, however, was to not only be bloody, bold, resolute and brief in their media messaging, but also be smart in their use of dead-catting, a media offensive technique to which this book to which this book has previously referred.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To announce (something) as a dead cat; to raise an issue as a political distraction."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive) To announce (something) as a dead cat; to raise an issue as a political distraction."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Boris Johnson",
    "Lynton Crosby",
    "The Daily Telegraph"
  ],
  "word": "dead cat"
}